Cafe Society: Ventura County Fair event asks you to be beer judge

photos by LISA MCKINNON/THE STAR Owner Brian “Ollie” Oliver (right) and head brewer Reno King display logo glasses of beer at Poseidon Brewing Co. in Ventura. Scheduled to open in August, the microbrewery will participate in the Ventura County Fair’s first Bounty of the County Peoples’ Choice beer competition on July 30.

LISA MCKINNON/THE STAR

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Replica diving helmets serve as light fixtures in the Poseidon Brewing Co. tasting room, scheduled to open in Ventura in August.

LISA MCKINNON/THE STAR

Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

LISA MCKINNON/THE STAR Tom and Charlotte Crocker are superintendents of the agriculture and natural resources building at the Ventura County Fair.

LISA MCKINNON/THE STAR

Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

LISA MCKINNON/THE STAR FILE PHOTO Steven Stroh of Chef Stroh’s Pestos (left) and Adam Randall of Squashed Grapes team to create the first-place winner in the 2013 Bounty of the County food-and-wine-pairing competition at the Ventura County Fair. The event offers free samples on a first-come, first-served basis.

LISA MCKINNON/THE STAR

Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Ventura, Calif. - There was a method to Charlotte Crocker’s madness when she scheduled the Ventura County Fair’s new beer-and-food-pairing event for opening day.

“That’s when all the beer guys come in to see how they did in the home-brewing competition. I figured, let’s take advantage of that. Let’s give them the VIP treatment while they’re here,” said Crocker, who serves as co-superintendent of the agriculture and natural resources building with husband Tom Crocker.

The inaugural Bounty of the County — Beer competition will offer free samples from commercial breweries and local restaurants when it takes place from 5-7 p.m. July 30. Samples will be available on a first-come, first-served basis to fairgoers ages 21 and older.

The event is a variation on the fair’s existing contest featuring teams from area wineries, restaurants and farms. Now known as the Bounty of the County — Wine to denote the difference in liquid refreshment, it will take place from 5-7 p.m. Aug. 5, just before the Deep Purple concert in the Grandstand Arena next door.

At both events, tasters will be asked to vote for best food, best beer or wine, and best pairing.

As if the lure of free food and drink weren’t enough, the July 30 event will include sneak-peek tastes from Poseidon Brewing Co., a Ventura microbrewery so new it isn’t scheduled to open until early August.

“I used to be one of those guys, running through the agriculture building to look at the tags on my bottles,” said owner Brian “Ollie” Oliver. “I started with a Mr. Beer Kit and gradually took over the kitchen.”

Oliver and wife Vinita Anand started construction on their commercial brewery in March, transforming office space in the Olivas Business Park on Bunsen Avenue. Beacon Coffee Co. is a neighbor.

The microbrewery is equipped with three seven-barrel fermenters. Six seven-barrel brite tanks are located in the walk-in cooler. The plan is to make enough beer to service the on-site tasting room with at least six brews at any given time, to offer patrons take-home containers called growlers, and to supply guest taps at a restaurant or two, Oliver said.

Poseidon’s seafaring name, logo and tasting room — the latter is decorated with diving helmets turned into pendant lamps — are inspired by Oliver’s post as a diver for Underwater Construction Team Two at Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme. His current duties leave him little time for brewing.

That job instead falls to head brewer Reno King, who has worked under A.J. Stoll at Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co. in Buellton and Santa Barbara.

On Thursday, King used peels from organic citrus grown by Mud Creek Ranch in Santa Paula while making a batch of grapefruit IPA, or India pale ale. The availability of local, organic produce is sure to inspire other brews as he ramps up production for opening day, King said.

Which beer will be featured in the competition? That depends on what most appeals to the brewery’s culinary teammates from Barrelhouse 101 in Ventura, Oliver said.

Fellow competitors include Surf Brewery and Saloon BBQ Co., both of Ventura, and Institution Ale Co. of Camarillo with The Kitchen of Oxnard.

Crocker is in the process of pulling together additional teams for both competitions. Restaurant, brewery and winery owners interested in participating are asked to call her at 648-3376, ext. 140. (Story continues after box.)

Ventura County Fair entry dates have been set for homebrewers and vintners (July 25-26), bakers (July 28), jam-makers (July 18-20) and others. For a complete list of dates and divisions, click on http://bit.ly/1qQNrF4.

The 2014 Ventura County Fair will run from July 30 to Aug. 10 at Seaside Park, 10 W. Harbor Blvd. in Ventura. For a schedule of events, go to http://bit.ly/1waOHSN.

OPEN, SHUT AND IN BETWEEN:Sake 2 Me Sushi is now open at what used to be Pizzeria 312 in Simi Valley. Founded in 2008, the mini-chain also has sites in Montclair, Rancho Cucamonga and Tustin. It serves all-you-can-eat sushi ($19.95 at lunch, $23.95 at dinner) in addition to sashimi, teriyaki, udon and baked rolls. Specialties include Heaven in Ya Mouth, made with crab, mango, avocado, asparagus and burdock root in soy paper ($10.99). Hours are from 11:30 a.m. Mondays through Saturdays and from noon Sundays (3921 Cochran St., 527-9999; http://sake2mesushi.com).

Zooza Cafe is open and serving breakfast and lunch items at an order-at-the-counter space in the Paseo Marketplace in Thousand Oaks. Owner Ray Tadayon and family members prepare fair-trade tea and coffee drinks in addition to offering fruit smoothies ($4.50 and up), a veggie breakfast croissant ($5), an Italian-meats panini with provolone and pesto ($8.95) and a vegan, gluten-free kale salad that includes quinoa, beets and shredded carrots ($6.50). Cleanse dieters will find a lemon, cayenne, agave and water concoction among the pressed-juice options ($5.95 and up). Hours are from 7 a.m. Mondays through Fridays, from 8 a.m. Saturdays and from 10 a.m. Sundays (3687 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., 496-9669).

But just a few doors down in the same shopping center, Bellavino Wine Bar and the adjacent Bellavino Wine Cellars have poured their last after about 10 years in business. Their shared website was still live this week, but the phone is disconnected, the Facebook page has been deleted and both suites are available for lease. Interested parties will find the wine bar filled with tables, chairs and decorative blown-glass pendants hanging from the ceiling. The retail space is lined with empty wood racks.

They’ll also find a new neighbor going in at the long-vacant corner space previously occupied by Fiamme Restaurant & Bar. Slated to open in the fall, Petra Mediterranean Cuisine will feature dishes made according to the owner’s mother’s recipes. The space is being updated to include archways, domed ceilings, a backlighted bar counter top and about 8,000 square feet of travertine (3731 E, Thousand Oaks Blvd).

THEY WOULDN’T CHANGE A THING. (WELL, ALMOST): As the new owners of Santino’s Pizza Parlor in Ventura, Steve Zolotas and Sabina Romo-Zolotas know better than to mess with tradition. “All of the items that are on the current menu were kept. That’s what made Santino’s so successful,” Steve Zolotas said.

But that hasn’t kept the couple from adding to the restaurant, a Ventura College-neighborhood favorite since 1979. They have installed a trio of muted TVs in the dining room, which still features a salad bar at its center. New to the menu are a 20-inch New York-style pizza, gluten-free pizza dough, and the option of ordering burgers and sandwiches wrapped in lettuce instead of the traditional buns. Happy hour now runs 4-7 p.m. Sundays through Wednesdays and 4-6 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, when $4 martinis and margaritas are available (4231 Telegraph Road, 644-0166).

SAVE THE DATE: The fourth annual Santa Barbara Fermentation Festival will focus on pickles, kombucha, sourdough bread, beer and wine when it takes place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 19 at Fairview Gardens in Goleta. A farm-to-bar happy hour will run from 4-6 p.m. For tickets, $5 to $50 per person, click on http://www.sbfermentationfestival.com.

Lisa McKinnon is a staff writer for The Star. Please send email to lmckinnon@vcstar.com. For between-column updates, follow 805foodie on Twitter and Instagram and “like” the Facebook page VCS Eats.

Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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